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SNAP Helps Roughly 1.7 Million Struggling Veterans, Including Thousands in Every State

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Roughly 1.7 million veterans live in households that participated in SNAP (formerly food stamps) at some point during the past 12 months, CBPP analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey finds. In every state, thousands of struggling veterans use SNAP to help put food on the table; in two states, more than 100,000 veterans do: Florida (132,100) and Texas (119,200). In ten states, at least 10 percent of veterans lived in households that received SNAP in the last year. (See Table 1 for state-by-state data.)

The 1.7 million figure, a three-year average for 2011 through 2013, represents the number of veterans in households that received SNAP at anypoint during the previous year. About 980,000 veterans lived in households that participated in SNAP in an average month in 2013, data from a different Census survey (the Current Population Survey) show. (For additional information on the difference between these two methods, see “Notes on Methods” below.)

For low-income veterans, who may be unemployed, working in low-wage jobs, or disabled, SNAP provides an essential support that enables them to purchase nutritious food for their families. Nationwide, SNAP is a powerful anti-hunger and anti-poverty tool: it kept 4.8 million people above the poverty line in 2013, including 2.1 million children.

Many veterans returning from service face challenges in finding work and making ends meet. While the overall unemployment rate for veterans is below the national average, the unemployment rate for recent veterans (serving between September 2001 and the present) remains high, at 9 percent in 2013.[1]

In addition, more than one-quarter of recent veterans reported service-connected disabilities in 2013,[2] which can make it harder to provide for their families: households with a veteran who has a disability that prevents him or her from working are about twice as likely to lack access to adequate food as households that do not include someone with a disability.[3] About 15 percent of households that receive help through the charitable food assistance network (which includes food banks, pantries, and shelters) include a veteran, a recent study found.[4] For veterans struggling to overcome obstacles to feed their families, SNAP makes a crucial difference.

Table 1 Veterans in Households Receiving SNAP Benefits in the Last Year, 2011-2013 Average

State/Territory

Estimated number of veterans in households receiving SNAP

Estimated share of veterans in households receiving SNAP

Alabama

33,000

8%

Alaska

4,900

6%

Arizona

43,700

8%

Arkansas

19,300

8%

California

98,200

5%

Colorado

23,500

5%

Connecticut

14,200

6%

Delaware

6,700

8%

District of Columbia

4,400

13%

Florida

132,100

8%

Georgia

66,500

9%

Hawaii

7,400

5%

Idaho

11,000

9%

Illinois

58,200

8%

Indiana

34,200

8%

Iowa

17,600

8%

Kansas

12,500

5%

Kentucky

30,800

10%

Louisiana

30,000

10%

Maine

14,100

11%

Maryland

28,500

6%

Massachusetts

25,700

7%

Michigan

73,100

11%

Minnesota

16,800

5%

Mississippi

20,100

10%

Missouri

44,900

9%

Montana

7,800

8%

Nebraska

7,000

5%

Nevada

15,800

7%

New Hampshire

5,600

5%

New Jersey

19,500

5%

New Mexico

14,900

8%

New York

73,700

8%

North Carolina

61,400

8%

North Dakota

2,400

4%

Ohio

80,200

10%

Oklahoma

26,300

8%

Oregon

43,200

14%

Pennsylvania

64,600

7%

Rhode Island

4,900

7%

South Carolina

34,200

8%

South Dakota

4,700

7%

Tennessee

54,100

11%

Texas

119,200

7%

Utah

10,900

8%

Vermont

4,100

8%

Virginia

41,000

5%

Washington

59,500

10%

West Virginia

13,700

9%

Wisconsin

30,600

8%

Wyoming

2,200

4%

Notes: Estimates shown are for veterans living in households that received any SNAP income during the past 12 months. Monthly estimates of SNAP participation would be lower. Estimates use three-year averages due to small sample sizes in some states in one-year data; these three-year estimates are rounded to the nearest hundred. Source: CBPP Analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2011 to 2013

Notes on Methods

CBPP analyzed the American Community Survey (ACS) for this state-level analysis. The figures presented here represent our best estimate of the number of veterans who live in households that receive SNAP at some point during the year.

The analysis combines data for three years (2011 through 2013) to improve the reliability of the state estimates. The figures, which total 1.7 million veterans nationwide for the three-year average (the 2013 figure was 1.6 million), refer to veterans who live in households where anyone received SNAP benefits at any time in the past 12 months.We also estimate, based on Census’ Current Population Survey (CPS), that 980,000 veterans lived in SNAP households in an average month in 2013.

The two figures differ for three reasons. First, the number of veterans in SNAP households at any point in the year is necessarily larger than a monthly average. Second, the figures come from different surveys, and the CPS tends to undercount SNAP recipients more than the ACS does. Third, they cover different periods — 2011 through 2013 for the ACS estimate versus 2013 alone for the CPS estimate. Both surveys likely badly undercount homeless veterans, though the ACS probably misses fewer.

[3] Alisha Coleman-Jensen and Mark Nord, “Food Insecurity Among Households With Working-Age Adults With Disabilities,” Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, ERR-144, January 2013. About one-third (33.5 percent) of households with a working-age member who was out of the labor force due to disability were food insecure. While the food insecurity rate was slightly lower (30.5 percent) for households with a veteran who was out of the work force due to disability, this rate is still much higher than households with no working-age adults with disabilities (12 percent).